Bubble World

by Carol Snow

After sixteen-year-old Fresia learns--and tells her friends--that their perfect life on a luxurious tropical island is not real, she is banished from her virtual world to the "mainland," where people are ugly, school is hard, and families are dysfunctional.

• ISBN10: 0805095713
• ISBN13: 9780805095715
• Publish Date: 30 July 2013
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 9 July 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Henry Holt & Company
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 346
• Language: English

Reviews

[Angie]

Bubble World is utterly bizarre and I loved nearly every word of it! Imagine a world where it's always sunny, warm, and you can do just about anything you want. Where the names are ridiculous and the slang even ridiculouser. And where teachers praise you for admitting you went to a party rather than doing your homework. That is Bubble World aka the island of Agalinas. This is where sixteen year old Freesia lives with her peacocks for alarm clocks and where she studies things like "Foundations of Foundation" and "Lipgloss Technology." All is perfect until blackouts become frequent and her world appears to be glitching. Soon enough we learn that Agalinas isn't entirely real, but it takes a little long for Freesia to find this out.

I loved Bubble World (the book and the place) from the beginning. It put a huge smile on my face from page one, and I was immediately engrossed in this bright and strange world. There is just so much that is not normal about the life Freesia is living, and I had to know more about it! I don't want to give too much away, but just a handful of chapters in, it's revealed that it's all just a simulation. It was suppose to be an educative environment, but clearly, it's not. I still want to go there though! But that's probably not a good thing...

While Bubble World is all good fun and quite funny, it does deal with some serious issues. It appears to be saying a lot about the current state of our world, particularly when it comes to education and technology. More specifically that traditional education is not working for everyone. Every kid is different, and Freesia was one of them. And the alarming amount of time young people (and adults) spend plugged in to their computers and smartphones. It definitely made me more aware of how most of my life revolves around interacting through a screen rather than out in the real world. That said, I'd still like go to Bubble World.

I was prepared to give Bubble World five stars, but it started to lose me toward the end. Of course, in typical Dystopian fashion someone has to go after the evil corporation and make things better for everyone. That's all fine and good, and I still liked that. But on top of this, there seemed to be a stronger focus on weight loss. This I didn't like so much. There is a lot of talk about appearances, but I felt like there was some fat shaming going on. Plus it felt thrown in as an afterthought just to make a point about the fatness of Americans. I'm fat. I'm American. And I love my internet. I don't need my books telling me to go outside and exercise.

Despite that last complaint, Bubble World was amazing. It's entertaining and thought provoking. It was everything I love about reading and I think it needs more love than it's getting!

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.